All you need to know to get payroll giving working for your fundraising cause.

Payroll Giving is a scheme by HMRC that enables employees to give regular, tax-free donations through their pay to any UK charity. It’s a Win-Win! Employers benefit as they demonstrate their commitment to corporate social responsibility. Employees benefit by using a service that’s efficient and easy to opt into and out of. Payroll Giving is also the only form of giving that is automatically tax-efficient for higher rate taxpayers. 

The good news is that the biggest beneficiary of this kind of charitable giving is the cause. Regular and bigger donations are hard to come by for small charities, and they’ll welcome this kind of scheme. Also, did you know that giving actually makes us healthier?

Before we get too excited though, there’s some work to do! As a nation we are sporadic in our charitable giving, and on the whole we don’t give as much as we would like to. Now you know this, you can grasp the nettle and convince your colleagues to put Payroll Giving on the agenda in the workplace!

How to make Payroll Giving work for your cause

Let’s take a look at the key things you need to know if you are thinking of signing up, trying to get others to, or asking your employer to start the scheme. 

Convincing your employer to get involved.

Geared for Giving is a persuasive campaign to get more employers to offer Payroll Giving. Our guess at Fundraising Expert is that you probably won’t find reluctance, just a lack of knowledge on how to get the service set up. So we’ve made it easy for you to convince your boss!

Information for employers: 

• Setting up Payroll Giving is simple and the benefits for you, your employee and charities are huge! 
• Choose a HMRC approved Payroll Giving Agent (PGA). There are three main PGA’s - Charitable Giving, Charities Aid Foundations Payroll Giving scheme, and Charities Trust. 
• Make sure your payroll system can make deductions. Each month, send the deducted monies and a listing to the PGA and the donations will be distributed. 
• As an employer you can even enhance these donations in any way you choose – from one off donations to match giving.  
• Putting up a poster or a flyer with a payslip is a great way to promote, but if you need more help to increase your uptake numbers you could try contacting Hands On Payroll Giving or The Payroll Giving Team. Organisations like these offer bespoke services with personal and online methods that build employee engagement and commitment. 
• Need more information? Look at the case studies on Geared for Giving, including ASOS, Beaverbrooks, BT and many more. 

Information for charities

We’ve mentioned a few key points for charities already – the tax is reimbursed to you directly, even for higher rate tax payers, and employers can match donations. And this is regular giving – a nirvana that most causes dream of. Here are a few more things that may not have thought of as a charity: 

• Make sure you run your own Payroll Giving scheme. 
• Put Payroll Giving into your business strategy and start to think about ways to increase it, both with employees and corporates. 
• Talk about Payroll Giving within any existing corporate relationships. 
• Put details of Payroll Giving on your website.
• Don’t leave the communication for your Payroll Giving to the PGA. Instead, communicate with your Payroll Givers just like you would with any other donor. Say thank you, keep them up to date with your news, and make sure they know just how much you appreciate them helping your cause. Keep them onside!

Information for employees 

If you aren’t feeling inclined to sign up yet, here are a few more reasons to go ahead, as well as ways to get others to follow your lead: 

• If you want to make a real and lasting difference to a charity you love, regular, tax efficient giving is an excellent way to do this. 
• If you think you would like to give to a charity regularly but you aren’t sure – contact them! Ask them why you should give to them, or if you can visit one of their projects. Having a personal connection is the key to being a happy donor. Make it easier for the charity you love to find you by going straight to them. 
• Becoming an advocate for Payroll Giving in your workplace can really multiply the effect of your decision to give in this way. When people see someone like them making a change or acting in a certain way, they’re more likely to act similarly.
• Don’t give up – if you’re reading this you are probably a keen and active philanthropist, or aim to be one. Even philanthropists with lots of money to give away hit roadblocks at times, but remember the lives you are trying to change or save and you’ll find the motivation to keep going! 

Now that you have all the information you need, we hope you will give and motivate others to do the same. This year the Payroll Giving scheme will be 30 years old. Join Payroll Givers’ Andrew, Taylor, Nina and many more in celebrating the more than £2billion raised so far, and become part of the movement! 

We would love to hear how you get on! Tell us about your experiences of Payroll Giving on our Facebook page or Twitter profile! 

You may also enjoy reading: 

The Beginners Guide to Fundraising

Make Fun a Bigger Part of your Fundraising 

Any material published on this website does not give a full statement of the law, nor does it reflect changes after the date stated on each document. It is intended for guidance only and is not a substitute for professional advice. No responsibility for loss occasioned as a result of any person acting or refraining from acting on the basis of this material can be accepted by the author or by Fundraising Expert.